Great Mid-Century Vintage Couch

Anybody want to buy a beautiful green mid-century couch? My sister has one for sale. It's in great condition, especially considering it's age. Here are some pics.

It's Christmas Time in the City

I wandered over to the Salem Center Mall during my lunch today. I really wanted to get out of the office and walk a little, but it was bitterly cold outside, so I ended up walking through the mall.

Here's what I noticed.

• There is a new store that sells imported mahogany carved items and hottubs. What??
• The food court still offers free samples. :)
• A lot of old people shop during the day.
• Bath and Body Works has their foaming soap on sale for $3.
• The Salvation Army bellringers are located in the skywalks. And they have instruments this year. A trumpet and a guitar. It made me smile because they both reminded me of my a little of my dad, sitting their with their instruments singing their hearts out and playing Christmas carols. They weren't exactly excellent musicians, but you could see they enjoyed it. Ah, sweet. :)

Kudos to Rite-Aid Pharmacy

Can I just say I love Rite-Aid Pharmacy downtown?

I have been to a couple other pharmacies and they are usually just ok. But this one? This is excellent. Good service, nice people, and they are happy to work with you. A real person even calls you when your prescription is ready.

I must say, I am quite happy with them. :)

Christmas Trees!!

I went out to the woods and cut down a Christmas tree. Okay, well actually it wasn't the woods. It was more of a Christmas tree farm, but still, it was fun and festive. We went to Reinhart Tree Farm, where all the trees are $30. I actually got mine for $10 at a little homegrown tree farm down the road from Reinhart.

I went with some friends and we had a good time, wandering through the trees, talking about the merits of skinny trees vs. fat trees, trees with holes vs. perfectly manicured trees. It was a very deep and important conversation. One that should be had at least once a year, preferably at Christmas time and definitely with friends who have a great sense of humor. :)

I got a little tree. We named him Fred. He is about 5 feet tall and has some nice sprangly branches. He's a pretty little Noble Fir and he's perfect for my apartment.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

A Weekend in Seattle

You know what I always forget about? Seattle. I forget how close it is. I forget how beautiful it is on a sunny day. I forget how it has a big city vibe, but a northwest feel. I forget that the drive isn't bad at all, unless it happens to be foggy/rainy/dark/ or any other common weather pattern around these parts.

But, fortunately, this weekend was one of the nicest fall weekends I can remember. So, I made my way up to Seattle. I left Saturday morning because I didn't want to drive in the dark and possibly the rain. (Does that make me sound old or what??) It was a nice drive. I listened to talk radio as I made my way up I-5.

Seattle was saturated with sun and crisp, fall air. The leaves were colorful, the water was bright and blue, and the air was crisp and warm at the same time. I wandered around downtown for awhile, waiting for my friends. Then one of my friends called me to inform me that he was in a protest that was headed downtown and I should meet up with them if I was in the area. So I drove that way until I found the roads blocked by the police, found parking, and walked over to join the protest. I didn't happen to ask what they were protesting, but it became quite clear as soon as I arrived. The rainbow flags and the "No on Proposition 8 signs" quickly gave it away. It was a rally against the passing of the ban on gay marriage in California. It was quite loud and noisy and there must have been a couple thousand people there. The square was packed, as were all the stores and malls surrounding it. Apparently a lot of protesters were hungry, cold, and had to use the restroom. :)

Finally, my other friend showed up and we ended up finding a little sushi place to grab a bite to eat during happy hour. It was called Dragon something and it was in the bottom of a hotel on Pike street. They had half rolls for $1.95 and $2.95. Not bad at all.

We walked back to my friend's apartment, spent some time talking and having a glass of wine and then met up with other friends for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was a nice meal. I had my favorite: Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes. It's actually an appetizer, but I always just eat it as a meal. There is plenty of food, believe me!

We were going to head out dancing, but due to someone's broken foot, we decided just to head back to the apartment for drinks and socializing. We turned up the music, mixed up some drinks, and chatted and laughed until we couldn't keep our eyes open any more (which for me was about 11:30!). I fell asleep on top of the covers, pretending to still be a part of the socializing, which I was totally not. I was fast asleep. Talk about being old. :)

But feeling up and awake for brunch at Julia's on Broadway and the drive home was well worth it for me. Happily, it was sunny again and the drive home wasn't bad at all. I did hit a traffic jam in Portland. It seems that an RV had turned over on its side on the bridge and everyone had to get off at the Rose Quarter exit and then get back on the freeway. The poor little old grandma and grandpa that were driving it were sitting forlornly on the median wrapped up in blankets, but at least they were alright.

Fortunately, the Rose Quarter exit is right by my favorite pedicure place! I love Vogue Nails on Broadway. They do the best pedicures, and the have such friendly staff. The atmosphere is relaxing and I always come away feeling relaxed and refreshed. It was a great stop for the middle of a long drive. I felt happy and pretty and was able to drive home just a little bit happier. :)

Documentaries and Dinner

Thursday night in Salem. Ahhh. The amazing things we have to choose from. First of all, there was the Crystal Apple Awards for the school district. I chose not to go to that, but boy, oh, boy a lot of people chose to go. Salem was swimming in fancy clothes for once. :) People seemed to be taking the opportunity for a night on the town. The restaurants were full, and there was even what looked like a cocktail party going on in an empty storefront.

Since everything was so packed we ended up waiting to have dinner until after our movie. We went to Jonathan's for their delicious chowder and realized that it seems to be smoke-free. I don't know when that happened, but it was a delightful surprise.

I decided to go to a showing of a documentary called "Consuming Kids" instead. It was showing at the Grand Theater as part of the Salem Progressive Film Series, which happens every second Tuesday of the month.



What an amazingly interesting film. Depressing, but interesting.

There was a short film before the main feature that I thought was almost, if not more, interesting. It wasn't that there was so much new information in "The Story of Stuff," but it was just so well put.

It's a film I think everyone should see, just to be reminded.

Sunday Morning at Busick Court

Sunday morning was one of those perfect fall mornings that is crisp and cool, a little blustery, but not too much. I had breakfast with a friend and we decided it was perfect weather to walk down to Busick Court for their Sunday brunch.

First we put our names in on the list and found out that the wait was about 25 minutes. Since we had noticed that people were eating breakfast at Copperjohn's next door, we decided to stop in and see what they had on their menu. The problem was apparent the minute we walked in. It smelled like smoke. And that is not something I can stomach at 10:00 in the morning. I can deal with it in the evening, but not with my breakfast. Nevertheless, we looked at the menu, which was small, but looked delicious and reasonably priced. We asked about the smoking ban in January and found out that they are going to do a remodel to make sure the smoke smell doesn't linger. I might try their breakfast after that.

Back to Busick for brunch. I had the Broadway Joe scramble with a biscuit and gravy. It was delicious all around and of course there was plenty to fill me up and even take home. They have very hearty portions. My friend got a Chicken Cordon Bleu meal, but was disappointed that the sausage and ham were just piled on top rather than stuffed in the chicken breast.

The place was busy and seemed like it was a little understaffed. It took much longer than usual to get our coffee refilled. In fact, I only got refilled twice, when I normally drink 3-4 cups with a brunch meal.

It started raining while we ate, but we made our way home through the drizzle and the leaves by walking almost the whole way under the eaves of different stores and buildings. It was a beautiful way to spend a drizzly fall morning.

Fall Colors

This has been a perfect autumn in Salem. The colors are intense, the sun is still shining, and the air is perfectly crisp. I was out the other day taking some pictures and here are a couple of my favorites. I think I'm going to go back out today or tomorrow and try to get a few more of these beauties. Maybe it'll help get me through the long months to come. :)

A Daytrip to Portland

One of the best things about living in Salem is it's prime location. One hour from Portland, one hour from the beach, one hour from the mountains (skiing in winter, camping and hiking in summer), one hour from Eugene. In some ways it's the perfect location.

Yesterday, I took a day trip up to PDX to visit a friend and just get out of town for awhile. It was one of the best days I've had in a long time.

We started out by picking up a copy of the Portland Mercury and Willamette Week at the local bar. We ordered a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, some tater tots, and wandered out to th patio to sit in the sun and enjoy our selections. It was warm, the beer was crisp and cold, and the tots, oh my. It's been a long time since I indulged in a treat that harkens back to elementary school days!

After looking through the music section of both papers, we settled on an early performance by the Little Sue Band at the Laurelthirst Public House on Glisan. It was their happy hour music and there was no cover. It was perfect for us because we didn't want to be out too late since I had to drive back to Salem and my friend had to work at six in the morning.

The Laurelthirst is a nice, dim, bar with open brickwork, a long bar, and cozy booths. Their food selection was a little limited, but their beer and wine list was perfect. The majority of their food was either vegetarian or poultry selections and although we were a little nervous because of the ratty piece of paper that was their menu, we ordered the nachos. The server suggested we add the beans or turkey chili since it was only fifty cents extra. We added beans for a total of $5.50. Wow. They really loaded them up and we ended up with a nice little dinner to share.

It was a good thing we shared our dinner because I somehow had gotten it into my mind while reading the papers earlier, that I needed to try out Voodoo Doughnuts. Now, I've been hearing about this place for awhile. It's gotten rave reviews. I don't even like doughnuts very much, but I just had a hankering to try this Portland hotspot. So we drove over the Burnside Bridge and circled the blocks a few times looking for a spot to park long enough to let us pick up some doughnuts. This is quite a feat on a Saturday night in downtown Portland, let me tell you. But, we finally did find a spot, walked over to the Voodoo store on SW Third Street. We had to make our way past the homeless beggars and the heroin junkies, but, boy was it worth it! Doughnuts of all shapes and sizes, with toppings you can only begin to imagine: Fruit Loops, bacon, M&M's, etc. It was amazing. People crowded into the tiny storefront, scooting between other customers to get a look at the doughnut case, make their way to the ATM (it's cash only) and find the end of the line again. Fortunately, the line moves quickly, but it never really seemed to get any shorter. We ordered a half dozen doughnuts. We each picked three, although we got a couple of the Portland Cremes (chocalate covered bavarian creams) a blueberry, an old fashioned, and a cruller. We made our way out with our pink box of doughnuts, back through the crowd of drooling doughnut customers, found our car (mercifully safe in a rather scary area of Burnside) and headed back home to enjoy our doughnuts with a cup of coffee.

If you've never had a Voodoo doughnut, I'm not going to try to describe them here. Just go get one yourself and experience the richness, the textures, the extra little oomph, that makes people drag themselves across town on a cold night to stand in line for these delicious concoctions.

The Last Days of Farmer's Market

The Wednesday and Saturday Farmer's Markets in downtown Salem are coming to close at the end of October. There has been inordinately beautiful weather for the late season this year. Last week I went out to the market on Wednesday during my lunch and bought fresh green beans, red potatoes, green and yellow zucchini, and green onions. I also picked up a beautiful bouquet of dahlias and some other little purple flower for only $5. The vegetables made a wonderful fresh farmer's market dinner when I added grilled chicken. Mmmm. I love eating fresh from the market. Which is why I'm so sad to see it going away for the winter.

But, spring will come again and with it the farmer's markets and fresh food and beautiful fresh flowers.

Dennis Leckington at the Blue Pepper

Salem isn't exactly known for its music scene, but if you look around there is an interesting mix of musical styles going on around the city on any given weekend.

For instance, I stopped by the Blue Pepper Coffee Shop this evening to catch up on some e-mails and blogging while sipping a cup of fine coffee and I ran into this interesting musical event. Dennis Leckington. I've never heard of him, but he sings classic rock and isn't half bad. Very melodic style. Hawaain shirt. Acoustic guitar. And it definitely draws a middle aged crowd.

What I appreciate about his style for a coffee shop is that it is definitely listenable while you work on whatever you need to do. Sometimes the coffee shops have bands that sort of require all your attention because of their style or volume, but this is a very relaxing way to spend an evening at a coffee shop.

You do need to get to the Blue Pepper early enough on music event nights or all the good seats get taken. This is a popular venue for free music events and the chairs do typically fill up although there is always standing room.

And yes, their music events are always free. They have tried to do cover events, but apparently it didn't go over well with the regular crowd, so they just went back to the free events.

Parking in Downtown Salem

If you don't come to downtown Salem very often, you may not know of all the new parking measures that have gone into effect. Salem uses parking attendants most likely trained by runaway Nazi guards that have settled in South America. NOTHING gets past them.

We now have a two hour parking limit for all street parking in Salem. That means if you park for two hours and 1 minute, you can expect to have a ticket. The parking Nazis have somehow figured out a system to keep track of every car in every parking spot in the entire downtown core from 9 am until 6 pm every day. And don't think you can fool them by moving a couple of slots down. Oh No. You must move your car to at least the next block if you would like to continue shopping and visiting in the downtown sector. Also, don't try to trick them by leaving, going to another part of town and then coming back to park in the same block an hour later!! Apparently, they don't yet have tracking devices on cars, so they claim to not be able to know if you have left and come back. I'm pretty sure they know. They just don't care.

Wine Country Trip

Well, I'm down in wine country this week, so things are a little slow here on the blog. Let me just tell you that the 8-9 hour drive from Salem to Sonoma County is well worth the trip. Especially when I hear it's raining up there, and I'm spending the day by the pool getting sunburned. :) Or valiantly trying not to get sunburned while still soaking up as much sun as possible to prepare for the long, rainy winter ahead.

The trip down here wasn't bad. It's completely doable in one day. Medford makes a good stopping point for a meal. Or Redding if you have a snack in the car on the way. If you need to get out and stretch there are some great rest stops with decent parklike areas, or you can stop at Lake Shasta if you need a real break and some outdoor time. Another option, which my sister and brother-in-law did on the way down, was to cut across to Hwy 101 at Grants Pass and come down through the redwoods. They said there were some pretty remote areas, but they got to see a lot of great sights.

So, if you have five to seven days, a drive down to wine country area is a great option for a relatively close to home trip. It's obviously not the kind of thing to do in a long weekend, but it's definitely driveable for a weeklong vacation like we're doing. It also helps if you like either wine or golfing as most of the activities around here seem to revolve around one of those two things. :)

Downtown Salem Coffeeshops

I'm a big fan of the coffee shop idea. I love hanging out, having a coffee, talking to friends, surfing the internet, meeting new people, etc. It's like having a big extended living room.

The following is a listing of coffee shops in the downtown Salem area.

The Beanery - Liberty Street
This is what is referred to by locals as the "new Beanery." This is not because it is the newest one, but because it replaced the "old Beanery" which was one of Salem's original coffee shop hangouts. The original was torn down to make room for the new transit mall. This coffee shop was remodeled in 2006 and has lovely wood floors and nice seating options. They also have great cafe style food options and a really good salad bar.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, newly remodeled, good desserts, outdoor covered seating, salad bar, good tea selection
Cons: Bad acoustics lead to a noisy atmosphere, no soft seating

The Beanery - Transit Mall
This is the coffee shop that is close to the original location of the "old Beanery." It hasn't inspired the same kind of loyalty as the old grungy coffee shop that originally sat in that spot. It is the transit mall, but has it's own entrance on Court Street.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, good desserts and food, decent acoustics
Cons: Not much seating, it isn't the "old Beanery"

Blue Pepper
Located on Commercial St in downtown, this coffee shop seems to be the place to meet clients and have business meetings. They even have a private meeting room upstairs. It has lots of seating, including soft couches and chairs. It also boasts Salem's only internet cafe (I believe). When this coffee shop opened a few years ago it also had a frame shop in the back. It still acts as a gallery, but the frame shop has closed or moved. They also have music most weekend nights, which starts at 7 pm and is usually over by 9 pm.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, large space, good acoustics, lots of soft chairs and couches, wine bar
Cons: Closes early, not open Sundays.

Cafe Noir
A newer coffee shop on Marion Street. It also offers food and wine. It has a nice, quiet atmosphere and serves a lot of the state workers. They have good, toasted sandwiches for lunch. Last I heard they were trying to sell the business, but I'm not sure what has happened with that.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, good sandwiches, small and quiet, wine bar, comfy chairs at tables
Cons: Off the main downtown drag (this could be a pro for some people), closes early

Coffee House Cafe
This Liberty Street coffee shop was opened when the "old Beanery," by one of the former managers of the Beanery. It is in a great historic building and has a cozy, comfy feel with couches and old tables. It was sold to new owners a few years ago and they have cleaned it up and made it more streamlined looking without losing its cozy feel. They often have music on the weekends and they have outdoor seating. For some reason, although I like this place, it has a strange smell that makes me choose other coffee shops more often.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, Cozy atmosphere, quiet, open late, outdoor seating, bar seating, good tea selection
Cons: Funny smell, some of the couches and chairs are a little too old and soft

The Governor's Cup
I believe this is Salem's oldest coffee shop. Legend has it that one of our governor's used to get his coffee there every morning. It is located in a beautiful old building on Court Street with brick walls and an upstairs loft. This is the hangout of a lot of Willamette University students. They are open late and you will often see people studying or reading in its (sometimes) quiet atmosphere. They roast their own beans on site, so you can sometimes smell the roasting coffee in the neighborhood. Old wooden tables and some couches make this a pretty comfortable place to hang out, although the couches could use an update. Or a cleaning at least.

Pros: Free Wi-Fi, a couple of comfy couches, delicious sugar-free mocha, open late
Cons: Not many food options, not very many plug ins for computers
Other: Sometimes it is packed to the gills and noisy, usually with Willamette students. This could be a pro or con depending on what you're looking for.

Starbucks - Liberty Plaza
This Starbucks is also known as "the big Starbucks," or "the one with comfy chairs." This is to distinguish it from the one on the other end of the block. This is a traditional Starbucks with a few comfy chairs, but mostly small tables. It is not exactly quiet, usually, but the acoustics aren't as bad as the Beanery on Liberty St. This Starbucks always has a mix of business types, retired types, and Willamette students.

Pros: You know what you're getting even if its mediocre, soft chairs, outside seating
Cons: You pay for Wi-Fi, it is usually cold inside.

Starbucks - Liberty and Court Street Corner
Also known as "the small Starbucks" or "the one without comfy chairs." It is mainly a morning coffee stop for downtown and state workers. The other group that hangs out there regularly are the Harley riders. They usually sit outside, probably so they can watch their bikes. :) This is just your typical small Starbucks with a window bar and a few small tables. It was recently remodeled and is nice and new.

Pros: You know what you're getting even if it's mediocre, outside seating
Cons: You pay for Wi-Fi, very small, very little seating

Well, I think that's it for the downtown core area. Of course there are others around the Salem area, but that will have to be another post.

Summer in the City Festival - Salem, Oregon

Something very good is happening in Salem. People are planning events and other people are coming out of the woodwork to check them out! It's exciting to see people in the streets of downtown Salem.

The festival goes all weekend and has a lot of great music and food to try out. There are three music stages, one whole block of wine tasting, a beer garden, and lots of great food from downtown restaurants. One of my favorite things about the layout of the event is that the beer and wine areas were set up near the stages so that you could enjoy music and drinks at the same time. The stages were not actually inside the drinking areas though, so anyone could get close to the music. Also, the children's area had its own street so the kids could go crazy and not disturb the music listeners.

There are also a lot of businesses taking advantage of the crowds downtown with sidewalk sales so there's lots to see, do, and buy down there this weekend. It takes me back to the days when the sidewalk sale downtown was a highlight of the summer.

Summer In The City was planned and organized by Go Downtown! headed up by Suzie Bicknell and I was very impressed with the organization and the layout of the event. One of the problems with events in the past is that no one would go out of the box and take on the likes of city council, OLCC and other entities to get things moving in a more modern direction. We were stuck in a small town mentality for too long. Thank heavens we are moving into big city mode. Or at least medium city mode. :) Thank you, Suzie and Salem.

I hope this event becomes synonomous with Salem in the summertime. We need fun events to bring people out to explore our own little city. This is a great start.